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Alter Ego
'' |image= |series= |production=40840-155 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Joe Menosky |director=Robert Picardo |imdbref=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708849 |guests=Sandra Nelson as Marayna, Alexander Enberg as Vorik and Shay Todd as Holodeck Woman |previous_production=Macrocosm |next_production=Fair Trade |episode=VGR S03E14 |airdate=15 January 1997 |previous_release=Fair Trade |next_release=(VGR) Coda (Overall) The Begotten |story_date(s)=50460.3 (2373) |previous_story=Fair Trade |next_story=The Begotten }} =Summary= Voyager is engaged in exploring a nebula inversion that is mysteriously stable. While inversion nebulae normally burn out after a few years, this one appears to have existed for centuries. While the rest of the crew discuss emotions with the Vulcan tactical officer Tuvok, Ensign Harry Kim gives him a discomforted look. Kim later visits Tuvok in his quarters, and asks Tuvok to teach him the Vulcan way of suppressing his emotions. When Tuvok asks why, Kim reveals that he has fallen in love with a character from the holodeck. As a part of Tuvok's methods, they go to see this character, Marayna. Meanwhile, Captain Janeway orders the ship to move away from the inversion, but the ship fails to respond. All of the crew later engages in a luau on the holodeck. Tuvok again meets Marayna, and is intrigued by her logic. Harry sees this and becomes jealous of Tuvok, who assures him that his jealousy is misplaced and that he feels no emotions for Marayna, but Harry will not listen to this. To prove his statement Tuvok deletes the Marayna character from the holodeck. Later as Tuvok enters his quarters, he finds Marayna there, wearing the Doctor's mobile emitter. Marayna, hence, reveals herself to be a sentient being who can escape the confines of the holodeck—and is no ordinary holodeck character. It appears she has uploaded herself into the computer. Tuvok then informs security as Marayna disappears. Her attempt here to capture Tuvok's love fails, however, since the Vulcan Tuvok is not receptive to her "suggestions" that they see each other more often. Angry and disappointed at being rebuffed by Tuvok, Marayna has now taken control of Voyager's computer and disabled her engines—a situation which could spell disaster for Voyager in the middle of a nebula. This is particularly true as activity in the nebula suddenly increases, threatening the ship. Captain Janeway is alerted to the matter with Marayna and she and Tuvok begin scanning Voyager's immediate vicinity for hidden vessels and eventually find a spot from where the real Marayna character originates. Tuvok beams himself to this location aboard Marayna's ship and meets the real Marayna, an alien who is living totally alone and isolated in the nebula inversion to prevent it from igniting in order to allow her people to enjoy its beauty. However, she was so fascinated by the Voyager's holodeck program that her curiosity led her to hack into Voyager's computer, and she was intrigued by Tuvok. She asks Tuvok to remain with her but Tuvok reveals that he is already married and has children on Vulcan. Tuvok tells Marayna that if she really cares about him she must let both him and the ship pass through the nebula safely. Tuvok also explains that if he stayed with her merely to save the ship, the relationship between Marayna and himself would not be what Marayna desires—between one of equal partners. Marayna sees the logic of Tuvok's suggestion, and permits both Tuvok and Voyager to safely continue on its journey home through the nebula inversion. Errors and Explanations Internet Movie Database Plot holes # At one point, the Marayna holodeck character borrowed the Doctor's mobile emitter to visit Tuvok in his quarters. However, since the mobile emitter was actually a completely self-contained autonomous holo-emitter that worked entirely independent of the ship's computer system, the alien who had merely "hacked" into Voyager's on-board computer system through an up-link from her cloaked space station should have lost all control over her holo-character "disguise" the moment it was transferred into the autonomous mobile emitter. The transfer could have included the coding for the holo disguise. Revealing mistakes # Tuvok transports over to the alien space station just as Chakotay calls out that the shields are down to 47 percent. Transporters do not work while the shields are up. Tuvok could have used the reduced shield strength, combined with a sensor window, to perform the transport. Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Sunday, July 15, 2001 - 4:28 am: If they were interested in learning about the dampening field why not ask Maraina about it? After all the trouble she caused them, I would think that would be the least she could do. Her species may have laws prohibiting her from sharing such knowledge. # Anonymous on Wednesday, August 15, 2001 - 2:23 am: It seems to me that the crew should have noticed that Maraina was not behaving like a normal hologram and that something was going on. Surely if Neelix designed the luau program he would know if a "unusual" character was made. Just compare her behaviour to the other holograms' in the program and you'll see how obvious the difference is. Shame on Tuvok. inblackestnight on Thursday, June 28, 2007 - 6:52 pm: Exactly right. That was the first thing I noticed. Also, Tuvok told her "your logic is impeccable" but anybody who's passed psychology 101 could've given the same assessment. When Tuvok, Tom and BLT get into a fight with the holograms they are able to fight them off. If Maraina was controling them why not subdue the other two and kidnap Tuvok? Seniram 12:03, January 27, 2018 (UTC) She may not have been willing to take such extreme measures. # The whole reason Marayna is on this the station is to maintain the nebula so her people have something pretty to look at. She may like isolating herself but to be there for aesthetic value is just plain dumb. It would also make quite a distinctive navigational marker! # After the several times the nebula is said to be hitting the shields, not once do I recall seeing the bubble effect. Voyager may be using shields the conform to the shape of the hull. Category:Episodes Category:Voyager